My foot!
by Michelle285
Summary: Companion piece to Those Horrible Shoes. There seem to be similar qualities between Mia and Clarisse. And possibly others as well.


_Disclaimer: I don't own. I never do. I never will. I just love to play with the characters._

 _A/N: This is kind of a sequel to_ Those Horrible Shoes _. Or at least it will reference it and speak of the thing that happened at the end of the story. I guess not really a sequel…maybe a companion piece? Anyway, you should probably read that before you read this. It might make more sense. After I wrote the first scene here, I really thought it worked better at the end of_ Those Horrible Shoes, _but I had already posted the story. I was so mad! Enjoy!_

"Do you think she's inherited some of your qualities?" Joseph asked Clarisse quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clarisse scoffed. She was standing at the door to the entrance hall with ice in her hand. "Now, if you'll hand this to Nicholas so he can put it on his foot, I have to find Mia."

Joseph took the ice, but stopped Clarisse by putting a hand on her arm. "Mia was shocked and angry. It seems to me that I remember a certain act being performed by a certain queen and that queen was only teasing."

Clarisse narrowed her eyes at Joseph and pulled her arm out of his grasp. "As I said before, I don't know what you're talking about."

Watching her walk away, Joseph smirked. As if she didn't.

-%

Clarisse sighed. She knew Mia was her granddaughter, but she could do without these physical reminders constantly. She didn't know how they managed to be so much alike. Their childhoods were completely different; their situations were completely different. Yet, faced with an uncomfortable situation, their similarities were on display. Clarisse wondered how she could chastise Mia for stepping Nicholas' foot, when in reality, Clarisse had done the same thing years ago.

 _Clarisse peeked her head into Joseph's room and saw his foot propped up on pillows, with a bag of ice resting on the top. She grimaced. "Are you okay?"_

 _Joseph whirled his head around and saw her at the door. "What do you think? You wore those shoes all day; how do you think they'd feel connected with the top of your foot?"_

 _"I think your foot probably hurts worse than mine do," Clarisse admitted._

 _"I'm surprised you didn't poke a hole in the top of my foot!" Joseph exclaimed._

 _"Oh, don't be overdramatic," Clarisse admonished, trying to hold in a laugh. "I didn't step on your foot that hard."_

 _"Oh no?" Joseph asked. "Take the ice off and look at that bruise!"_

 _Clarisse walked over to his foot and moved the bag of ice. When she did, she gasped. There was a purple bruise forming on his foot, around a circular red mark. "Oh, Joseph!"_

 _When Clarisse hadn't stopped staring at his foot, he wiggled his toes. "You want to put that ice back? It'll be fine in a couple of days."_

 _Putting the ice back, Clarisse turned to him. "I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to hurt you."_

 _Joseph smiled. He knew that hadn't been her intention. She was just teasing. Sometimes though, their teasing got them both into trouble. "I know. Now will you listen to me about not wearing those shoes anymore?"_

 _Clarisse knew Joseph was joking, but she still felt bad about the damage she had inflicted; she couldn't join in. She went with the truth. "Rupert loves them."_

 _"Step on his foot," Joseph mumbled. "That'll change his mind."_

 _Clarisse couldn't help it. She was still upset about what she did to his foot, but she laughed. "I guess you don't feel too bad if you're making jokes."_

-%

An hour later found Clarisse in her suite. She had found Mia, took her to her new living quarters and left her to enjoy her room, her closet and her friend. Clarisse knew she should be in the office right now, but at the same time, she was exhausted from the…events…of the day and she didn't feel like doing anything. In a few minutes she would suck it up and get back to work, but for the moment, she was going to indulge herself.

Holding in a groan hearing the knock on her door she called, "Come in."

Seeing that her visitor was only Joseph, she smiled. She was almost sure he wasn't coming to tell her to get back to work. After all, ninety-nine percent of the time he told her she was working too hard and tried to get her to rest.

"What are you doing?" Joseph asked.

"Nothing," Clarisse answered truthfully. "For a few minutes at least. How's Nicholas?"

"He'll be fine," Joseph assured her. "A few hours rest, a few bags of ice and I'm sure he will be as good as new. How's Mia?"

"She's fine," Clarisse told Joseph.

Joseph looked at Clarisse closely. He knew how much she loved the girl, still though, she had trouble projecting it. Also, sometimes what she considered teachable moments turned into fights. "What did you say to her?"

"She's fine," Clarisse repeated. Knowing Joseph wouldn't let up until she told him, she sighed. "I told her that as a queen I simply could not condone her behavior. However, as her grandmother, I fully approved."

Joseph smiled, coming over to sit beside Clarisse on her couch. "Good call."

"I do make them sometimes," Clarisse intoned sarcastically. 

He couldn't help himself, Joseph had to laugh. "I never doubted you, my dear."

Clarisse slanted a sideways look at him, not believing his statement. "Oh, I'm sure."

Joseph just looked at her. He tried for serious, but he knew the corners of his mouth were twitching. Even if they hadn't been, he knew she would know what he was thinking. She could always read him better than anyone.

"I will admit that stepping on your foot that day probably wasn't my finest moment, nor the best call I made," Clarisse said.

"Ah, she _does_ remember," Joseph teased.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "You do _remember_ that it was you who started it all."

Joseph let out a slightly dramatic sigh. "Always blaming the man. I was the one who ended up with a bruise on my foot the size of a pear!"

"If you hadn't been so…suggestive…with your comment when you got out of the limousine..."

"That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't discussed the benefits of wearing the shoes."

"I wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't insisted on massaging my feet because they were _part of my body_ and you were my bodyguard." Clarisse's voice took on a slightly mocking tone. "Protecting my feet from hurt."

Joseph raised his eyebrows. "Well, if you weren't wearing those shoes in the first place! Why did you?"

Without missing a beat, Clarisse responded, "Rupert!"

They were both silent a moment and then, almost simultaneously, began to laugh. When they had calmed down some, Joseph commented, "I guess the fault was on a man. Just not the one I meant."

"The fault is always on a man," Clarisse said with an exasperated tone in her voice. "Even in Mia's case. If Nicholas hadn't danced with her…"

Joseph rolled his eyes and couldn't hold in a sigh. "Oh good grief."

-%

Eleven years later, Mia and Clarisse were in what was now Mia's office as the Queen of Genovia. Mia had drawn up a proposal that she had plans to present to Parliament the next day. She had gotten much better at drawing up proposals and was much more diplomatic when presenting them. Still though, she wanted her grandmother to look over this particular one.

"This is very good," Clarisse complimented her granddaughter. "I believe Parliament will agree."

Mia nodded. "Thanks."

Clarisse got up and was walking toward the door when Mia stopped her. "Grandma?"

Clarisse turned around. "Yes?"

"I wish you hadn't bought Kaylee those new shoes." Mia said.

"She will be attending her first State dinner in a few short months," Clarisse reminded Mia. "She needed appropriate shoes. We've been over this before."

Mia sighed. It was true. Clarisse had told Mia that she was going to buy Kaylee some new shoes for the dinner and Mia hadn't objected. At least she hadn't until she found out the new shoes had heels on them. She knew her daughter was going to need elegant shoes, but she had thought the elegance could be accomplished with flats.

"I just wish they didn't have heels on them," Mia told her grandmother. "She could embarrass herself even worse than I did at my first State dinner."

"How?" Clarisse asked. "I don't see how anything could be more embarrassing than yours."

Mia held in her eye roll and pointed out, "Falling over from her in front of all those important people will not look good for the future queen. Especially since she's grown up knowing she's a princess."

Clarisse smiled. "I don't think that will a problem. I saw her earlier this morning. She was wearing the shoes. Joseph said every time he's seen her since I bought the shoes she's been wearing them. Besides, a one-inch heel is not that high for a ten year old girl."

Mia rolled her eyes. Kaylee would wear the shoes all around the palace and do it in secret. Mia knew had she seen Kaylee in the shoes she would have told her to take them off and what's more, Kaylee knew it too. Mai had to acknowledge that wearing the shoes was probably a good idea though. Clarisse was right. If Kaylee was practicing walking in the shoes, she probably wouldn't fall after all.

Opening her mouth to grudgingly agree with her grandmother, Mia was cut off by screaming.

Her door was thrown open by her five-year old son (Mia took a moment to idly wonder if Ryan had been taking lessons about door opening from Kaylee). "Mommy!" "Mommy!"

Kaylee tore into the office seconds behind him, still wearing the heels. "Don't listen to him, he started it!"

"I did not!"

"You did!"

"Well…maybe I did. But you didn't have to…"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Kaylee cut in.

"Yes, you did!"

Kaylee stopped for a second and decided that he was honest earlier, so she might be as well. "Well…maybe."

Mia shook her head at the antics of her kids. Clarisse's eyebrows were raised. "Good heavens. What happened?"

"Kaylee was wearing those shoes," Ryan cried pointed at his sister's feet. "She stepped on my foot!"

Immediately Mia's eyes connected with Clarisse's. There was a few seconds of silence and then…they both burst out in laughter.

 _What do you think? I just loved the idea of all the generations having the same qualities in them. I struggled with the idea of how to get young Kaylee to even have heeled shoes, much less as to why she would step on Ryan's foot with them. That being said, I hope the idea of her going to a State dinner at such a young age is plausible and I hope you got the impression that Ryan and Kaylee had been fighting. That being said, there was a comment about opening doors in one of my other fics and WildiMeiLing, you said you liked it, so the door comment was thrown in for you. Also, for other readers, if you aren't familiar with Ryan and Kaylee and would like to know more about them, they are in_ My Ladybug _and_ Princess Lessons _. Anyway, if you read and liked this story, please review. Thanks for stopping by to read!_


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